LA Fitness Boost for Augie’s Quest

Irvine-based Fitness International LLC plans to host group fitness classes at more than 500 of the company’s locations as part of a fundraiser for Augie’s Quest, a non-profit founded by Corona del Mar resident Augie Nieto.

Nieto is a fitness industry entrepreneur and executive who is battling ALS—also known as Lou Gerhig’s Disease—while overseeing the foundation’s search for a cure to the disease. Augie’s Quest, which is affiliated with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, has raised about $40 million in the past eight years to support the Cambridge, Mass.-based ALS Therapy Development Institute and other efforts.

LA Fitness will hold its group fitness events on February 22, 2014, marking the company’s fourth in-club event to support Muscular Dystrophy Association’s ALS research initiative. The event will be open to public for a minimum donation of $5.

“We are pleased to participate and provide access to both members and non-members for this event,” Bill Horner, LA Fitness' senior vice president and chief real estate officer, said in a news release. “They get to experience a great class, in a great club and contribute to a great cause. Truly a win-win all the way around.”

ALS is a progressive motor neuron disease that causes complete paralysis. It affects as many as 30,000 Americans at any given time, and no cure currently exists for the disease.